A coronial inquest into the disappearance of Lisa Govan more than two decades ago has heard two men were arrested over her suspected murder, but never charged.
Govan, 28, was last seen socialising at the Club Deroes clubhouse in Kalgoorlie around 7.30am on October 8, in 1999 at the end of a long night of heavy drinking in which she visited several bars and nightclubs on Hannan Street.
Lisa Govan has been missing since 1999.Credit: www.missingpersons.gov.au
After being fired from her job as a lab assistant, Govan arranged to meet up with a friend for a night out while her long-term partner, Tim Hammel, was working a night shift.
Witnesses say she socialised at the Safari Club until it closed at 4.30am and patrons emptied onto the street.
CCTV footage shows Govan talking to Deroes member Andrew Edhouse outside the club in a laneway before his housemate Trevor Atkinson and two others approach the pair.
During the opening address at the inquest into Govan’s disappearance in Perth on Monday, counsel assisting the coroner, Sue Markham, said Atkinson appeared to strike Govan to her neck area and then walk away, with Govan then throwing something, maybe a cigarette butt, at him.
She alleged he then turned and approached Govan in a menacing way, but Edhouse intervened, and the group separated without further incident.
Govan then planned to go home, but instead caught a taxi to the Club Deroes compound, a large industrial shed and old house behind locked gates.
At the time, Edhouse and Atkinson lived in the house with their girlfriends.
A group of people continued to drink at the compound into the early hours of the morning, with the last sighting of Govan about 7.30am, when the group whittled down to just Edhouse, Atkinson, Govan, and another man, Patrick Nathan, who was asleep on the couch.
Govan’s partner, Hammel, was not happy she had gone out that night, and left work at 3.30am to look for her at the Exchange Hotel on Hannan Street after calling her phone repeatedly and leaving abusive messages.
When he finished work, he returned to the hotel, drank several cans of Bundaberg Rum and then went looking for Govan at her friend’s house, kicking in the door to try and find her. He then rode his motorbike around looking for her, but had a crash and the bike had to be towed away.
He called police to report Govan missing when he got home, but officers told him he had to wait 24 hours. At 3am the following day he formally reported Govan missing.
No trace of Govan has ever been found despite a $1 million police reward.
A search warrant executed at the Deroes clubhouse a week after her disappearance found gaming machines which appeared to have been moved and an area of floor that was freshly painted, with a section of carpet removed.
However, forensic samples of the area yielded no relevant evidence.
The inquest was told that nearly two decades later, in 2017, another search warrant was executed at the clubhouse, and police took core samples from the concrete floor and under sections of the painted floor – but still no useful evidence was found.
That same year, the court was told, Edhouse was arrested on suspicious of Govan’s murder but was never charged. Over the years, Atkinson has been arrested on three occasions on suspicion of Govan’s murder, but has never been charged.
Neither of the men, nor Govan’s former partner, are listed to give evidence during the inquest.
It is understood police have been unable to locate Edhouse.
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